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Keep adult day care in budget

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Saturday February 23, 2013 7:04 AM

Adult day care is a cost-effective, essential service that supports our elderly and disabled,
allowing them to live at home as long as possible by providing services during the day while their
family members are at work. Investing in adult day care is a key component of rebalancing health
care from nursing homes to home- and community-based services.

National Church Residences is a strong advocate for this effort, which saves funds and often
improves outcomes.

We are so pleased that Gov. John Kasich has recognized this with the inclusion of an adult-day
reimbursement increase for PASSPORT and Choices clients in his executive budget. This increase is
necessary because it costs more to operate an adult day center than the reimbursement provides. In
fact, several central Ohio centers have closed since 2009 because the reimbursements rate makes
operations unsustainable.

Ohio’s current rates are 30 percent lower than the national private-pay average and the Medicaid
rates of surrounding states. Kasich would moderate that by raising them 20 percent. We urge Ohio’s
legislators to keep those increases in the budget.